Two Local U.S. Consulate Workers Killed In Pakistan Blast

The United States says two Pakistani employees of the U.S. consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar have been killed in an explosion.

Secretary of State John Kerry said in Washington on March 1 that the pair had been killed along with an unknown number of Pakistani soldiers when an improvised explosive device detonated while they were on a mission to “eradicate narcotics fields.”

Kerry said the Pakistani soldiers were guarding the mission.

Pakistani government administrator Naveed Khan said a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying Pakistani officials working for a USAID-funded poppy-eradication project in a northwestern tribal area on March 1.

Khan said two people were killed and four others wounded, but he could not say whether those killed or wounded were also working for the U.S. consulate.

Jamatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.